"Dane knows it. Every player at the football club knows it, so it was a no-brainer," he said of the interview on The Footy Show that appeared on Thursday night.

Swan was one of a several big-name Magpies who were rested from Saturday night's match.

"It's not a huge issue, but five grand is not a sniff of money. I dare say that 'Swanny' would understand that he'd have to do it differently next time," he said.

It has been a tough few days for the Pies, but the Swan episode probably caused more angst for the Pies than Saturday night's result. A particularly young squad was named for the clash with the Lions, with Buckley admitting that it was pretty much selected three weeks prior.

Still, he pronounced himself pleased with the pre-season to date and said three weeks of NAB Cup football has confirmed his view that the Pies should bat deeper in 2013.

"We feel like we have had an injection of senior talent that can be in our best 22 and some young players who were exposed last year - ahead of their time – who have got another pre-season under their belt and who are pretty hungry to push their way into our best side," he said.

"There's quite a bit of depth there, and it's quite encouraging that the competition for senior spots exists.

"We probably didn't see that tonight, but over the majority of our practice matches and the first couple of weeks of the NAB Cup, it was evident."

Collingwood will make a rare trip to Simonds Stadium to round out their pre-season with a 4pm game against Geelong next Friday. The Magpies have not played a home and away game there since July 1999.

Buckley indicated that many of the big names rested for the Lions game would be back to face the Cats, who he said would prove an ideal opponent on the eve of the season.

Ashley Browne is an AFL media senior writer. Follow him on Twitter @afl_hashbrowne